Blogtour: Awe and the Environment

I am humble when I remember that the sea is so large and my boat is so small. I've carried this quotation around in my head for years; I understand that it is a prayer, but I cannot find a source for it. No matter. In my relationship to the earth, it is apt.

I have wandered often in the woods, seeking truth and solace. And, each year, I take risks, stupid risks, because my own hubris tells me that I will always be able to think my way out of whatever nature throws my way. Frequently, my biggest problem is that for a wanderer, I have a lousy sense of direction, and like Hansel and Gretel, I try to leave behind small traces of myself, markers, so that when I leave, I can find my way back to safety.

Sometimes, I think that those who would deny that global warming is taking place, that the earth is in trouble, should be required to spend a week in the wilderness. Not in some tourist hotel at the edge of the glacier, but sleeping in tents, cooking over open fires, dealing with the elements as they present themselves. And Lord, they do present themselves.

You see these photos of this boat?

This is how my brother makes his living. He fishes in the Bering Sea. He's been doing it since he graduated from high school. He is 40 now. For approximately eight months out of the year, in some of the most wickedly dangerous weather you can imagine, he and a crew fish for pollock. Most of you wouldn't recognize pollock. By the time its proteins have been broken down and reconstituted, it appears in our markets as Surimi, otherwise known as "fake crab." Its roe is highly prized in Asia, and at certain times of the year, the fish is stripped of its eggs before being further utilized.

Every time that my brother goes up on that boat, I think about how small his ship is, how rough the seas, how little time a human would have if s/he was swept overboard before hypothermia would drag them below the waves. (About five minutes.) I try not to think about the impact that fishing has on the eco-system of the Bering Sea, although I will tell you that the industry has finally begun to change its ways. While there may be "many more fish in the sea," their numbers are, it turns out, limited.

My respect for nature is rooted in awe. It hurts my heart that those who claim that God gave them dominion over the earth do not understand that dominion is a synonym for stewardship: we are the earth's guardian, not its master. If we do not offer to the earth the reverence it deserves, it will exact a terrible toll upon us.

Recently, John and Teresa Heinz Kerry published a book, This Moment on Earth in which she discusses her commitment to the cause of the environment, a commitment exemplified by her participation in the The Women's Health Conference that took place on Friday, April 20.

In support of the cause, Teresa Heinz Kerry has been on a "blog tour," taking questions from bloggers and responding to our concerns. A full schedule of the tour is available here: here.

For more information on the Heinz Family Philanthropies, visit the the website.

Tomorrow, the blog tour will move here.

These are the questions I chose to ask:

LB: As a college professor whose students from across the disciplines write about a variety of topics, I frequently have students in my courses who simply discount what they hear on the news about global warming, or the environment, or peak oil as "biased."  A solid minority of students believe that science is politicized, and that depending on your political position, you can choose to believe or not believe what scientists are saying. How would you suggest including those students in a conversation about the environment?

THK:  I would do the following three things.  First, consider directly discussing, with the students, their sources of information, and whether those sources are biased or not - and how they would go about determining that; second, try and organize, with or without the students, a forum (or series) where they have input -  a chance to listen to experts from both sides of an issue and thoroughly question them; and finally, implement the same approach with elected officials and ensure that there is enough time for questions and answers. 

One problem we have today is the abundance of information and the ease of accessing it, via the Internet. "This is a problem?" you might ask.  But it is a problem, because much of the information is, unintentionally or otherwise, incorrect.  Students may not have been taught how to determine the validity of the information they find on the web, so they may give equal weight to sources when one is clearly more authoritative than another.  Your college library may provide some material to help students with this - for example, Drexel University Library has posted a helpful tutorial called "Evaluating Information on the Web."  Also, both the American Academy for the Advancement of Science and the National Academy of Sciences have programs for teachers in dealing with issues of scientific truthfulness and accuracy. 

From a religious standpoint, many religious organizations ranging from Main St. Protestantism to Fundamentalism have issued reports affirming the truth of scientific explanations of processes like evolution and global warming. Most recently, author Chris Mooney has published a damning indictment showing in great detail how George Bush and his administration have used their power to hide scientific findings that conflicted with their ideology.

Finally, when you have 928 peer reviewed scientific studies affirming global climate change, and not one countering it, it is not sufficient to say that 17,000 people signed a petition headed up by Frederick Seitz who is a scientist - they deserve the respect due to having signed their names to a petition, but that is not scientific fact nor a peer reviewed study.

LB: How can parents talk to their children about the environmental degradation that we are suffering without overwhelming them? The problem is huge, and even for adults, there's a sense that the problem is just too big. How would you suggest talking to kids about what they can do?

THK:  The smaller the child, the more important it is to instill a sense of wonder and awe about the glories inherent in nature, how animals and plants grow and exist, what biodiversity is, understanding cause and effect, etc.

So, take your children out to a park or the countryside, show them a recycling program in action, a waste site or city dump, and explain what each is and what it all means. Consider planting a vegetable garden with some vegetables that grow quickly so they can watch first hand.  Allow them to see nature at work.

Let them help you recycle, pick up trash at the park, and get them involved in cooking whole, locally grown foods.  Help them plant a garden. Children love to nurture and take care of the world proactively.

Also, to the extent that they do watch TV, take advantage of the wide variety of nature programming (attempting to avoid extreme violence for very small children, of course).  In terms of environmental degradation, the message to push is one of choices, activities that remediate what is wrong.  We create problems, willingly or not - so let's be thoughtful.

A few decades ago, the World Health Organization wanted to end a malaria epidemic in Borneo, so it sprayed DDT from airplanes to wipe out the indigenous population of mosquitoes.  Unfortunately, the DDT also wiped out the wasps that controlled the local thatch-eating insects, with the result that everyone's roof caved in.

Meanwhile, the DDT accumulated in the local lizard population, and wiped out the cats that ate the lizards, thereby unleashing a ferocious infestation of rats. Ultimately, the World Health Organization was forced to parachute in 14,000 new cats, to control the rats. This came to be known as Operation Cat Drop.

This story is popular with environmentalists, but I share it now to make a point about unintended consequences. Much of what we do in life is not intended to come out the way it does.

LB: In terms of fiction and poetry, can you talk about a favourite poet or novelist who has awakened in you a love for the earth? What touched you about his or her work?

THK: Isak Dinesen and her book Out of Africa because of her appreciation and deep love for her African surroundings and her interaction with the native children she spent of her time with, as well as her later descriptions of mountains, flora and the life surrounding her, her love of the earth and its people.  I was so touched by the way she described nature and people.  Since I grew up in Africa, the vivid imagery she writes about resonates deeply and reminds me of why I care so much about the earth and why, in fact, I am an environmentalist.

cross-posted at My Left Wing

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